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THE IMMIGRANT TIDE
ITS EBB AND FLOW
EDWARD A. STEINER'S
Studies of Immigration
_The Broken Wall_
Stories of the Mingling Folk. Illustrated net $1.00
"A big heart and a sense of humor go a long way toward making a
good book. Dr. Edward A. Steiner has both these qualifications and
a knowledge of immigrant's traits and character."--_Outlook._
_Against the Current_
Simple Chapters from a Complex Life. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25
"As frank a bit of autobiography as has been published for many a
year. The author has for a long time made a close study of the
problems of immigration, and makes a strong appeal to the
reader."--_The Living Age._
_The Immigrant Tide--Its Ebb and Flow_ Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, net
$1.50
"May justly be called an epic of present day immigration, and is a
revelation that should set our country thinking."--_Los Angeles
Times._
_On the Trail of the Immigrant_
7th Edition. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.50
"Deals with the character, temperaments, racial traits, aspirations
and capabilities of the immigrant himself. Cannot fail to afford
excellent material for the use of students of immigrant
problems."--_Outlook._
_The Mediator_
A Tale of the Old World and the New. Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.25
"A graphic story, splendidly told."--ROBERT WATCHORN, _Former
Commissioner of Immigration_.
_Tolstoy, the Man and His Message_
A Biographical Interpretation
_Revised and enlarged._ Illustrated, 12mo, cloth, net $1.50
[Illustration: A CZAR IN EMBRYO
Southern Slavic chief, who exchanged his symbols of authority for pick
and shovel at "Guinea Hill."]
THE
IMMIGRANT TIDE
ITS EBB AND FLOW
EDWARD A. STEINER
_Professor in Grinnell College, Iowa_
_Author of "On the Trail of the Immigrant," etc._
_ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration: colophon]
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
Copyright, 1909, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 125 No. Wabash Ave.
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
_To
Mr. and Mrs. Bayard Henry,
Americans:
In whom blend all the nobler
strains which made the past
illustrious, and who are
awake to the peril and the
opportunities of the hour,
This book is
cordially inscribed_
PREFACE
"Put your hand on this cable," the captain said; and a dozen hands
grasped it before it sank back into the sea. Our fingers felt no thrill
or shock, for we had touched only the incasing insulation. Then the
captain told its length, stretching along the ocean's depths, its weight
and cost; but the figures falling upon our ears roused no emotions; for
they gave no idea of the cable's value to society.
On shore we were taken into a dark chamber and there saw flashes of
light, which lived but a moment; yet each spark was a letter, holding
some hidden meaning, revealing some vital truth. Here the imagination
was stirred and the mighty significance of the cable comprehended.
There are two ways in which to reveal the import of those vital
connections between the continents, as established by the immigration of
European peoples to America. One way is to record its volume, measure
its fluctuations, classify the different groups and statistically
determine the value of this movement to them; to trace the effect upon
its sources and its significance to the country which receives them.
The state of New York and the government of the United States, through
their Immigrant Commissions, have attempted to do this from the
statistical standpoint with material gathered by observers, more or less
skilled. The difficulties involved in this method are very great,
especially if the result is to furnish a test of the desirability of one
race or nationality over another, or determine its value to our
civilization. A race may be homogeneous in its historical or racial
consciousness, but heterogeneous in its cultural development. This is
true of the Slavs, the Latins and the Semitic peoples who make up the
bulk of our immigrant population.
Not only is there a number of well defined racial groups, but each group
needs to be sub-divided, and those subdivisions in turn have many
divisions; for every mountainside has its own traditions and each valley
holds different ideals. For instance: I know of one Slav village in
Hungary in which illegitimacy is unknown; yet within two or three miles
there is a village in which it is the rule rather than the exception. I
know some villages in the Carpathians, so remote from civilization that
the inhabitants have not yet learned how to make bread with yeast, and I
know other villages in the same locality in which are culinary artists
who make a cake having national fame.
A man may be a Polish peasant and be a semi-barbarian or he may be on
the same cultural level as the German "bauer" at his best.
The statistical method is of value; but it must be exceedingly
painstaking, and even then I doubt that it can serve in all cases the
purpose for which it is intended.
I have therefore chosen the second, the interpretative method. It sees
the sparks in the dark room, it interprets the flying flame and feels
the influences on both sides of the sea. It crosses and recrosses the
ocean with these human cables which bind together the continents; it
listens to their stories and records them, hesitatingly draws
conclusions and undogmatically tries to teach some lessons.
In the first part of my book I have tried to show the influences of the
returned immigrant upon his peasant home and his social and national
life. In the second part I interpret the relation of various races to
our institutions, their attitude towards them and their influence upon
them.
In all I have told, I have aspired to be an interpreter and not an
enumerator; a mediator and not a critic; I have desired to create
contacts and not divisions; to disarm prejudice and not give it new
weapons.
In this book, as in all the others I have written, I am indebted to my
wife; not only for doing all the tedious tasks such work involves, but
also for inspiration and the creation of an atmosphere in which I could
write in superlative terms of American ideals.
I wish to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors of the _Outlook_ and
the _Review of Reviews_ in permitting me to reprint portions of this
book.
I heartily thank the Y. M. C. A. of Pennsylvania and Mr. E. B. Buckalew,
its efficient State Secretary, for the opportunity to gather material in
that state and in Europe; the young men who made up the Pennsylvania
Expedition for the Study of Immigration, who were helpful, joyous
comrades, and the trustees of Grinnell College, Iowa, for a generous
leave of absence.
E. A. S.
_Grinnell, Iowa,
August, 1909._
CONTENTS
PART I
WITH THE OUTGOING TIDE
I. "THEY THAT GO OUT IN SHIPS" 15
II. THE PRICE THEY PAY 34
III. A MURDERER, MARY AND AN HONORARY DEGREE 46
IV. REFLEX INFLUENCES 62
V. OUR CRITICS 77
VI. THE DOCTOR OF THE KOPANICZE 93
VII. "MOSCHELE AMERIKANSKY" 102
VIII. "NOCH IST POLEN NICHT VERLOREN" 112
IX. THE DISCIPLES IN THE CARPATHIANS 124
X. THE GUSLAR OF RAGUSA 138
XI. WHERE THE ANGEL DROPPED THE STONES 152
XII. "THE HOLE FROM WHICH YE WERE DIGGED" 165